Businesses worldwide are losing billions of dollars due to an excessive amount of software waste within the enterprise, according to recent research from 1E. The resulting report, "The Real Cost of Unused Software," states that the problem drives up hundreds of dollars in costs for every desktop user. Ironically, the tech industry falls within the top five of wasteful sectors, following education and energy. As for potential causes, look no further than the increase in tech spending that's conducted outside of IT's authority, a.k.a. "shadow IT," as well as IT leaders' struggles to keep up with the rapid pace of tech change. Another factor: These days, CIOs are very focused on adding value rather than containing expenses. "Because of this, eliminating software waste, which is often seen as a cost-cutting exercise, has slipped to a far lower place in their priorities," according to the report. "This de-prioritization is a mistake because controlling and reducing software waste adds value to the business." (For the purposes of the report, software waste is defined as software that is bought and/or deployed, but not used.) The research is based on an analysis of 3.6 million seats and 1,800 software titles within 129 nations. Additional findings in the report were compiled from Gartner and other research organizations.